


Uniting Homes

by GeminiAlchemist



Series: Uniting Homes [1]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Belos needs better security, Gen, Lilith tries to be less of a garbage person, Post Season 1, Reunions, the first half is like Ocean's 11 only stupid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 15:54:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26620228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeminiAlchemist/pseuds/GeminiAlchemist
Summary: Luz thought she had destroyed the only way back to Earth. She had fired off the spell herself, watched the door burn. Mourned the fact she would never see her home, or her mother, ever again.Only for Lilith to dig up information saying otherwise. Emperor Belos is rebuilding the broken doorway. And Luz plans to steal it back.Meanwhile, Camilia Noceda has been trying to find her daughter, who has been missing these past few months, only to have no leads, and no hope.
Series: Uniting Homes [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1940611
Comments: 20
Kudos: 353





	Uniting Homes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Raphael_Antonello](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raphael_Antonello/gifts).



> It's been a while since I've written any fics, but with a show as great as the Owl House has been, I really wanted to add something to the fandom. I can't wait for season 2!
> 
> Before we begin, I want to give a huge thanks to my friend, Raphael_Antonello for being my beta reader/editor for this story. He really helped get this off the ground, and is responsible for a huge chunk of King's dialogue and smoothing out a lot of the scenes.

In the end, their first victory against Emperor Belos didn't end with a bang. There wasn't some grand battle for the fate of The Boiling Isles, or a fight at all. Belos wasn’t even around to blast with another ice glyph.

This wasn't a war they won, merely a major battle with one major spoil.

Luz ran a hand down the door frame, the same door she could have sworn she destroyed three months ago. Yet here it was, right back where it belonged, smack dab in the middle of the Owl House living room.

The portal door wasn't exactly how Luz remembered it, which became painfully clear when a splinter lodged itself into her palm. The door had certainly seen better days. It looked like someone had taken an ax to the door, burned it, and then threw the remaining pieces into a wood chipper, before turning it into the world's worst jigsaw puzzle.

Which is more or less exactly what Belos had tried to do, for whatever vaguely sinister plot he was scheming.

Still, Luz couldn't believe they got the door back. It had taken months of rigorous planning and hard work, but they did it. She remembered back when they first learned the portal wasn’t totally destroyed, when they first began their operation. Only two weeks had passed since Eda was captured, two weeks since Luz was trapped on the Boiling Isles, two weeks since Eda and Lilith lost their magic.

In order to cope with the loss of her magic, Eda kept her mind distracted. She constantly pestered Luz to show her another glyph, or to help her study old spellbooks, or to go on a field trip to learn more wild magic from nature. Luz might have complained how needy Eda was as a student, or how she never taught Luz as much magic, but honestly, Luz appreciated their time together: Luz wasn’t ready to be left alone with her thoughts yet.

Lilith was an equally enthusiastic student. The first few lessons were tense, what with Lilith’s recent attempts on Luz’s life and an overall lack of trust. Eda certainly didn’t trust her sister around Luz, and only allowed them to be in the same room if supervised. However, Lilith worked hard to win Luz’s approval, which sparked Eda’s competitive side, and soon enough the two sisters were bickering like old times. It was amazing how quickly those two sisters picked up wild magic while they tried to outdo each other.

With two eager students, Luz came to enjoy their lessons together. Despite their vast age difference, Luz never felt like Eda or Lilith patronized her, and with each new glyph they learned, the Clawthorne sister’s confidence steadily came back.

It didn't take long for Luz to notice that the two older witches kept different schedules, though. Where Eda was constantly pushing to learn more to keep Luz distracted, Lilith often was absent from these extra lessons, gone from the house on errands of her own. It wasn't until Lilith had been at the Owl House for two weeks that Luz figured out why.

“Belos has the door to the Human Realm,” said Lilith that fateful morning. The blue-haired witch looked between Luz and Eda, who were doodling art of cute puppies and cooking breakfast respectively. Luz’s insides turned to ice as those words bounced around her skull.

“ _What? But how?”_ Luz thought. “ _How could Belos have it? I fried the portal to a crisp!_ ”

Before anyone could speak, Lilith pressed a piece of paper onto the kitchen table. A hastily drawn sketch depicted the portal door in a poor, wrecked condition inside a metallic ring. The ring was welded together with tubes connecting it to the base, while golden wings adorned the sides as a symbol of the Emperor’s Coven. For all intents and purposes, it looked as though the ring would amplify the portal’s power and open a far wider gate into other worlds.

“I may not be in the Emperor's Coven anymore, but I still have a few… contacts.” Lilith explained. She pointed to the sketch. “After Eda’s failed execution and suddenly kicking out the Coven Leader, there have been doubts among the ranks about how Emperor Belos runs things. One of my loyal underlings was assigned to this project, and they informed me that Belos intends to get the portal working again.”

Lilith’s brow furrowed as she studied the sketch.

“It took some serious legwork to learn this much. I promised a few favors, pulled a few strings, and I may have…”

She hesitated while glancing at Eda.

“... broken a law or two, but–”

Lilith winced as Eda pumped her fist and belted out a sharp _whoop-whoop_.

“– but I think this information was worth it.”

“You're making the Bad Girl Coven proud, sis!” Eda gave Lilith a hard pat on the back, earning her a glare. “Is this what you've been up to these past few weeks?”

“Well, yes! But that’s no reason to act so childishly!”

While Lilith tried explaining everything in greater detail, and Eda celebrated her sister embracing her inner bad girl, Luz resisted the urge to panic. Belos had the door? And he was _fixing_ it? If he got it working again, then her whole sacrifice would be pointless!

“Wait, you guys. What are we gonna do about this?” said Luz sharply, getting the attention of both witches. “We can't let him fix the door!”

“Of course we can, kid,” said Eda. She raised an eyebrow. “We let him fix the door, and then when he does, _bam_! We steal it! Come on, haven't you learned anything from me after all this time?”

“My contact believes that it could take weeks, if not months, to fix all the damage. As long as they aren’t reassigned, we should know exactly when the door will be in working order.” Lilith gave Luz a small smile. “If we plan carefully and make the necessary preparations, we’ll put a stop to whatever Belos is planning and get you back home in one fell swoop.”

“Y-you think this could work?” Luz asked, wringing her hands. While she hadn't lost hope of returning home someday, getting the chance so soon was unexpected. Luz had resigned herself to living on the Isles for quite some time.

“I do. It won't be easy though. We'll need to put a lot of time, effort, and magic into this.”

Luz nodded as a look of determination crossed her face.

“Right then. I have just the right montage music to make this awesome.”

Just then, the King of Demons shuffled into the kitchen on his tiny, adorable feet. He dragged along a stuffed animal and rubbed at his eyes before joining Luz at the kitchen table. The demon tapped the table with his bony claws.

“I have no idea what you guys are talking about, but I'm not doing anything until I fill my tum-tum!”

Luz cheerfully scooped the demon into her arms, twirled him around as he demanded to be released, before cradling him against her chest.

“King's right–”

“Of course I am! What am I right about?”

“– we'll get to the training _after_ we eat and fill Mister Grumpy’s belly.” Luz cooed and poked at King's stomach, making the demon kick and squeal.

* * *

Despite all their hard work and expecting things to go wrong at every turn, Lilith was wrong in the end. Getting the portal door back hadn't been hard at all. In fact, it was an easy task.

Almost too easy, really.

Thanks to Lilith's loyal informants, they knew that Emperor Belos would be away from his castle on the 13th day of Grunstober. They knew all of the Coven guards’ patrol routes, where they were stationed, and when they would be changed. They trained in a wide variety of glyphs from illusions to healing spells. Most importantly of all, Luz and Eda had Lilith with them, who knew every hallway and secret passageway of the Emperor’s castle like the back of her hand.

The three witches snuck in during the lunch break, dressed in Emperor’s Coven cloaks and masks. If Luz hadn’t done the same thing before, she would have been shocked how easy it was to sneak around like this. Was Belos too cocky to believe that no one could fool him? Perhaps with his keen senses, no one could hide from Belos inside his own castle, but that’s why they waited until he left; Belos was one complication no one wanted to deal with.

Fortunately, the rest of the Emperor’s Coven was easy to fool. In total silence, Lilith led Luz and Eda through long hallways and down winding staircases, past guards who simply nodded and let them pass by. While Eda snarked that these guards weren’t paid enough to care, the trio reached the basement where Belos had set up the portal and the larger contraption. It took some muscle and elbow grease, but the three witches soon pried the portal door out of the mysterious machine.

From there, the plan was simple: they obviously couldn't sneak the portal out the castle gates. Even in its briefcase form, anyone with eyes would clearly notice the door being carried by unfamiliar Coven members. But for a crafty King of Demons, armed with an explosive fire glyph, flying outside on a magical, owl piloted staff? Why, that wouldn't pose any problems for him!

* * *

While the three women were breaking into the castle through the front gate, King flew around the castle, doing his best not to gloat about how sneaky he was at the top of his voice anytime a guard passed below him, ignorant to King's presence. Owlbert's keen owl eyes focused on locating a grate on the outside walls, up on a higher floor, out of reach of a normal guard, and out of view of patrols. The owl headed staff swooped in on the first outer wall grate it could find, hooting at King to get the next phase started.

With fire dancing in his eyes, King slapped a bomb glyph onto the grate. The glyph hissed and smoldered for a moment before it erupted with much force and fire.

King and Owlbert were prepared for the blast, but they hadn’t planned for the sheer amount of smoke, which filled the ventilation system. While King and Owlbert coughed and wiped away the tears that blinded their eyes, As soon as it had started to clear, the two clambered into the waiting shaft. “Ehehehe, that spell was great! Maybe Luz can teach me more glyphs like it? Soon, I shall rain hot molten death unto my enemies! Bwahahaha!” King laughed.

“Huh? What was that?” A Coven guard shouted as he ran into the hallway before turning this way and that. He blocked the exit with his body, yet failed to notice the missing vent grate and smoke trickling out of it. “I coulda sworn I heard an explosion or someone really ripping one in here!”

“Uh.” King stuck his head out of the ventilation shaft and called to the Coven guard. “I dunno, buddy. Must have been the wind!”

“Huh.” The Coven guard scratched his head for a moment before he shrugged. “Stupid exploding wind. You never expect it! Thanks, disembodied voice!”

The guard then continued his patrol, walking away. King and Owlbert shared a glance.

“... why are we intimidated by these guys again?”

“Hoot,” said Owlbert.

“You raise a good point. Truly, malignant stupidity is a far greater threat than even the most vile and bloodthirsty of demon lords.” King shook his tiny fist in the air before he slapped Owlbert on the head again. “Well, whatever. Let’s get going!”

* * *

After folding the door down, Luz carried it to the nearest castle vent grate, where King lied in waiting. In its briefcase form, the portal door was small enough to fit through the grates, and after some wiggling, Luz passed off the package to the demon.

“Here you go, little buddy!” said Luz. King accepted the briefcase, riding atop Owlbert’s staff. The demon giggled as he cradled the portal tightly.

“Ehehehe, this was a great plan, Luz! I’m so glad I thought of it!”

“I’m quite positive that I–” Lilith started to say, right before King interrupted her.

“– yessir, you three are basking in the glory of true genius!” King said. He smack Owlbert on the head like a cowboy telling a horse to giddyup. “Now, let’s blow this dump!”

With gleeful cheer, King flew around the castle’s ventilation system. Owlbert’s keen eyes and pinpoint turning took them from the castle’s underbelly to the outermost wall, where they had come in. With a whoosh and a holler, King and Owlbert flew out of the Emperor’s castle with a trail of leftover smoke and ventilation dust behind them. The skull-wearing demon barked a laugh as wind rushed against his face, brushing past his black fur. He waved farewell to the castle.

“So long, suckers! Thanks for fixing the door for us!” King shouted before kicking his little legs around.

While King and Owlbert disappeared into the horizon, Luz, Eda, and Lilith made their way out as well. Despite their stiff and nervous movements, no one suspected a thing and pretty soon the three witches escaped the Emperor’s castle. Once they were out of direct eyeshot, the three threw off the coven robes and ran home as fast as their legs could carry them.

Once they returned to the Owl House, Luz, Eda, and Lilith found King waiting for them on the couch. Owlbert rested atop the demon’s skull-helmet.

“Well well well, it's about time you guys showed up! We’ve been waiting here forever!” King exclaimed, still clutching the portal briefcase. “Don't worry, I didn't let it out of my sight, and I told Hooty to ‘make friends’ with any strangers.”

The little demon grinned widely, clearly proud of himself.

“Now that’s over, it's about time you praised me, mortal fools!” King angled his head forward, and with a playful smile, Luz patted the demon on the head like a good boy.

“Thanks, King. We couldn’t have done it without you,” said Luz. “Sorry for taking so long, but we didn’t exactly have Owlbert to fly us home.”

Luz giggled as King's tail wagged like a happy dog.

“Hmmm, I’ll forgive you… this time! But for now, I must go! I must regale my minions with tales of our great exploits! Even the Emperor himself is no match for my might!” King handed over the portal briefcase before he hopped off the couch and ran back to his room, where his legion of stuffed animals awaited their master. “Ahahah! I am a god of death and ruin!”

As King’s laughter disappeared upstairs, Luz unfolded the briefcase in the center of the room. It snapped into place as a door, which looked even worse now that she had the luxury of time. She grimaced as she trailed a hand down the battered frame, and she hissed when a splinter lodged itself in her palm.

And yet, even in the midst of this mood, Luz couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

“... I feel like we wanted all those training montages! I didn't even blast anyone with our new spells!”

“While the practice was a bust, I don't think we could have pulled this off without all those spy movies you made us watch.” Eda patted Luz on the back, grinning proudly at her student. “If we followed my plan, we would have gone in glyphs blazing, and who knows if we would have survived?”

“But did we really need to listen to montage music while we watched the movies?” Lilith complained. “I could barely hear the movie over the instruments!”

“Don't question the montage!”

Luz glared at Lilith, right before she broke out into laughter. Eda joined in, and even Lilith cracked a smile. After that tense heist, pretty much everyone needed to blow off some steam.

Once the laughing fit ended, Luz turned back to the door with a more serious expression.

“Eda, are we sure this thing works? It still looks really beat up for something Belos supposedly fixed.”

“You did quite the number on her, kiddo. Without my magic, I can’t check how severe the damage is; the only way to find out is to open it.” Eda took a step towards the door, shooing Luz away and reached for the knob. It took a bit of fiddling and yanking on the door, but after a moment it slowly pried open.

A yellow glow filled the room and a loud groan from the hinges filled their ears. Luz closed her eyes to save them from the blinding light, and clamped her hands over her ears to save them from the deafening screech of the door, only for her eyes to pry open when she felt the breeze.

The door was open. It was working! The Owl Lady stepped aside, giving Luz a grin as she gestured towards the open doorway and winked with her grayed eye. “Viola! And all it took was a gentle touch.”

Luz’s feet automatically moved forward and brought her in front of the door as her eyes grew misty. Her hands clamped over her mouth to keep the sob from escaping her lips. She could see it. She could see her home. She could see the trees, totally normal and not the kind that would try to eat her if she got too close. The green fading from their leaves as the seasons changed them to orange and brown. She could feel the fresh, early autumn air brush past her face, breathe in the smell of fall that just didn't seem to exist on the Boiling Isles.

“Well, Luz? What are you waiting for?” Eda asked, her hand falling on her protege's shoulder. “You can go home now. I'm sure you've got some people waiting at home for you, so you should go see them.”

Luz craned her head upward, getting a good look at Eda. The older woman looked wistful, but perked up when she noticed her apprentice's gaze. “Go on, kid. I'll keep it opened, and you can say your goodbyes to everyone tomorrow. You shouldn't keep your mother waiting.”

Lilith nodded. “Now that we have control over the gateway between our worlds again, I'm sure this isn't goodbye. You're free to visit any time you'd like.” She smiled, “in fact, we expect you to do so often.”

Luz felt something fall around her neck. It was the key to the door.

“I'm going to entrust this to you again, okay Luz? It'll be safer on your side, where Belos can't get to it. Just don't go handing it off to any emperors you may have over there too, you hear me?” Eda ruffled her hair, and gave her a gentle push forward. “Now go on, get! Before King notices you're leaving and starts crying. I want to put off the headache and the waterworks for tomorrow.”

Luz stared wordlessly at the two witches, before lunging forward and grabbing them in a tight hug. “You two are the best! I promise, I'll visit as often as I can! Every day after school, and we'll have plenty of sleepovers!” Tears were falling from her eyes, and smudging up against the two older witches dresses as they stifled their own tears.

“You'd better! Now don't make me say it again, head on home, missy!” Eda choked, prying Luz's arms off of her and her sister. “This isn't goodbye, so stop acting like it. No more hugs. We'll see you tomorrow, and every day after that, so don't worry about us.”

Luz nodded. “Right, not a goodbye. I'll see you guys soon! Thank you so much for everything!” She turned back to face the door, and took a step, and then another, each step became faster as she raced for the door.

She crashed into some form of barrier just inside the door frame. It repelled her like elastic, keeping her from barely crossing the doorway, before pushing her backward with enough force to knock her on her back.

She stared, flabbergasted. What had happened? Why couldn't she... she couldn't go through?

She was lifted up from behind, a pair of arms hooping under her armpits and moving her backwards and onto the couch.

“Luz? Luz, can you hear me?” Lilith's voice reached her, and she shook off her surprise. Lilith was inspecting her worriedly, looking her over for any injuries

“Yeah, wh-what just happened?” Luz stuttered, not entirely over the surprise of being thrown back by the portal.

“It's got some sort of barrier up,” Eda said from the doorway. She pressed her hand against it, trying to force it through. “The door is too damaged to allow anything physical to pass through.”

She sighed heavily.

“I'm real sorry, kid. We knew Belos wasn't finished with the door, but this was the only chance we were going to get to take it, and it looks like we grabbed it too early.” She shuffled over to the couch and dropped beside Luz. Opening her mouth to speak again, only to pause. “Wait a second...”

Eda reached out, and pulled something that had gotten tangled into Luz's hair. A browning leaf, exactly like the ones on the other side of the doorway.

“Seems the door does work enough for stuff to get through, but only one way.” The three witches glanced around the room, taking notice of all the leaves the wind had blown into their side. “We might be able to make this work. I'm not sure how we'll fix this, Kiddo, but I'm sure we can do... something with this! Somehow. Give or take a few... years?”

Eda gave a forced smile, not all that confident with her answer. It was true though, without their magic, there wasn't much Eda or Lilith could do with the door. It had taken Belos months, with all the resources of his kingdom and the greatest minds in all the covens to get the door working as much as it was now. And while Eda had been the strongest witch on the isles, and knew much more than any Emperor Coven lacky about sorcery, she couldn't reliably translate that knowledge into glyphs. She still had to relearn decades worth of magic. Even if she got those dorky kids Luz had as friends over and taught them, it would still take a few years for them to learn enough to fix the gateway between worlds.

Luz looked devastated, which broke her mentors’ heart. They had put all their eggs in this basket, and it looked like it hadn't panned out. Sometimes, life just worked that way, and there wasn't anything anyone could do about it. But before anyone could say any more, they were interrupted by a buzzing noise coming from Luz's pocket. And another. And another.

“That ‘phone’ thing you have is really excited about something today, isn't it?” Eda raised an eyebrow. Lilith just looked confused, having only started living there after the door had been destroyed. “Oh yeah, you weren't around before. It's been a while since that thing went off, usually it only did that when-”

“My mom would message me!” Luz quickly shot to her feet, fishing the phone out of her pocket as quickly as she could, and almost dropping it to the floor in her hurry. She breathed heavily as she tried to calm her heart and glanced at her home screen.

“Oh... oh, that is a lot of missed messages and calls. Oh man, am I in trouble.” Luz pursed her lips, as her eyes watered yet again, but this time out of relief. She began to laugh, “I can get messages again. So, it wasn't for nothing. The door still works that way.”

She brushed the tears from her face. “I can't begin to know what my Mom will say to me, I was supposed to be back from camp over a month ago, but I don't care, I-I got to call her back. And let her know I'm okay. I just wish I could see her face to face again... I have so much to tell her about- about everything!”

Eda and Lilith each placed a hand on either of Luz's shoulders, getting the girl's attention, and gestured to the still open door. “Oh, you guys are geniuses!”

“We try,” Lilith said with a smile.

  
  


  
  


The sound of a stapler clicking against a wooden post echoed throughout the empty street. Camilia Noceda, mother and overworked nurse, had just put up yet another missing persons poster for her daughter, Luz.

It had been almost three months since she realized her little girl never made it to camp. Reality Check had never even bothered calling her when she hadn't shown up at the beginning of Summer, and she hadn't realized her baby girl was gone until she stopped returning her messages.

At first she assumed Luz's phone had died, or broke. She'd replaced more than one of her daughters phones in the past because her antics had ended up breaking, or sometimes even frying it. But when she hadn't heard from her in days, she knew something was wrong. Her daughter would have used the camps landline phone by then, or sent her a new letter, but there was nothing.

So she called the camp, only for Reality Check to have no clue who Luz even was, and as soon as that quick call had ended, she had the police on the line instead.

They had assured her they would do everything they could, but after a few months, Camilia was desperate enough to take matters into her own hands. She took more time off of work and focused on getting the word about her daughter out. Social media posts, the local news, even putting up her own

posters, all to see if anyone had seen her little girl.

Still nothing. Not a word. It was like Luz had vanished off the face of the Earth. Most of the neighbors on her block didn't even seem to know she had existed, much less seen or heard from her in the time she'd been gone.

It was all starting to seem a little hopeless, and the world didn't seem to care that her little girl was gone.

Camilia's phone buzzed in her pocket. It was probably her job, asking her to come in and cover a shift. They'd been understanding the past few weeks, but lately the hospital seemed more and more irritated with all the time she was taking off, and they wouldn't be happy with her declining today, either. She may lose her employment at this rate, but she can always find a new job.

Luz needed her right now.

As she tried to get her phone out of her pocket, a gust of wind bellowed and tore the posters from her hands, scattering them with the breeze. She cried out and went to chase after them, only to realize that it was futile. She had plenty more back home anyway. But in the pit of her heart, it felt like Camilla lost a little more of Luz.

The phone vibrating again in her hand got her attention, and with a sigh Camilla answered without bothering to check who it was.

“Look, I'm sorry, but I already told you I can't come in tod-”

“ _Mami_?”

Her heart stopped. The stapler fell from her hand and hit the ground.

“ _Mami_? Mom, can you hear me? It's me, L–”

“Luz!” Camilia cried, pressing her body against the pole, afraid her legs would give out. “ _D_ - _Dios mio_ , Luz, are you okay? Where are you, please, tell me you're okay.”

Her voice was watery as she tried and failed to hold herself together. “ _Puedes decirme donde estas Mami vendrá a buscarte, solo dime dónde estás ¿de acuerdo?_ ”

“Mom, mom, I need you to breathe.” Luz made exaggerated breathing noise, in and out, and it was so ridiculous that Camilia would have laughed if she wasn't busy fighting back tears. “I'm okay, Mom. I'm safe, and I know exactly where I am. I can guide you to me, okay? I’ll explain everything when you get here in person.”

Camilia nodded her head, stopped, then felt a bit silly for not directly answering. Her head was spinning.

“Just tell me what you need, and I'll be there.”

* * *

The path Luz had asked her to follow led her back to her own home, to the bus stop, and across the street. She trekked through the woods near her home, the same ones she knew she had checked weeks before, and had searched multiple times since. The whole time, she had Luz's voice of encouragement in her ear, insisting that she was getting closer to her daughter's current position.

“When you see me, I need you to promise not to rush at me, okay Mom?” Luz asked of her. This had been followed by Camilia demanding to know if her daughter broke any bones, or had any other injuries that required a gentle touch.

“I'll explain when you get here” was the only answer she received. That was the answer to a lot of Camilia’s questions. Maybe she should have called the police. Maybe Luz was being coerced and this was some trap to get her abducted as well. But calling the police would mean not being able to talk to Luz, so she kept going, and trusted in her baby girl.

She got turned around a few times, causing her endless frustration in her race to find her child, but eventually Camilia found what Luz had described. A decrepit little shack, out in the middle of nowhere. She crept up on it slowly, looking the building over for any signs of Luz when she heard her daughter's voice. It didn’t come from the phone, but rather the shack self.

“You're here.”

Sitting inside the shack was her daughter. Luz sat on the floor of the shack with her legs crossed. Some kind of stuffed animal laid in her lap, held tightly like a security blanket. Camilia's heart pounded in her chest, and she raced towards the door until a panicked look crossed Luz’s face.

“Don't enter the doorway!”

The older woman brought herself to a halt, grabbing the door frame right before she crossed it. Was this place booby-trapped? Was something terrible going to happen to Luz if anything crossed the door?

“ _Mija_ , I'm here. Can you please explain what's going on?” said Camilia. “Why won't you let me come inside?”

Luz shifted nervously. In her lap, the stuffed animal stared at her with large eyes, and for a moment Camilia imagined that it even blinked.

“This is going to be really hard to explain...” her daughter began. “Before that, could you do me a favor? There should be a window, can you take a look through that? I think that'll help you understand, and make it a lot easier to explain.”

Camilia was confused, but nodded, and looked through the front-facing window of the shack. The first thing she noticed was the floor and the now-barren spot where Luz should be.

“ _Mija_?” Camilia called, her panic building.

“I haven't moved, Mom. Keep looking.”

So Camilia did just that. She searched the dark, broken-down innards of this wooden shed of a building. Broken glass and mushrooms littered the floor while graffiti marked the walls. Any furniture in the room was missing or broken. None of it remotely resembled the room Luz sat in.

Camilia peeked through the doorway again. The warmly lit, well-furnished living room sprang back into view. A red upholstered couch rested in the middle of the room with a coffee table at its feet. Mysterious artifacts hung off the walls, including an overblown Wanted poster depicting a cackling witch and a gray furred monster. Candles, books, and bottles rested on shelves, none of which existed in the shack through the window.

With great deliberation, Camilia blinked and rubbed her eyes. After she double and triple-checked, Camilia was forced to acknowledge that while what she was seeing was impossible, it was nevertheless true: Luz was somehow in this shack, yet not here either.

“It's kinda hard to believe, but... I'm kinda stuck in another world right now,” Luz said sheepishly.

“And she broke the door that can send her back!” said the doll in her daughter's lap. Camilia practically jumped out of her skin as the supposed stuffed animal wiggled from Luz’s grasp and clamored over to the doorway.

“Hi! I'm the King of Demons! But you can call me King, since you're Luz's mom and all. Nice to meet you!” He held out a furry paw before blanching and lowering it. “oh yeah. You probably shouldn't put any body parts through the doorway. Once it's through, it can't come back, so you might lose an arm if you stick it through. You're still free to bow and grovel, though!”

“King, she isn't going to grovel,” Luz playfully admonished. She gestured to the door, which Camilia noticed was even more damaged than the rest of the rundown shack. “But King is right, I did kinda break the door.”

“Kinda? Girl, you blew that thing to bits!”

“I know, I know.”

Clutching her shirt, Camilia shifted her gaze between King and Luz.

“Luz, I-I don't understand anything that's going on right now. Please, explain?”

That was an understatement. Camilia felt like she was having some sort of fever dream. Was any of this even real? Had she lost herself to despair over losing Luz and was hallucinating these events? It seemed like the only logical explanation, but Camilia hoped against hope that she was wrong for once.

“Well, don't you worry, because I'm going to explain everything with my little helper, King!” Luz continued, oblivious to her mother's mental crisis. “It's why he’s here. He kinda proves what I'm about to say just by existing... soooo, yeah. King is a demon.”

She picked King back up and lifted him above her head. “Ain’t he just the cutest hellspawn you’ve ever seen? Yes he is, yes he is!”

“I am not cute!” The demon squealed and flailed, which even in her present state, Camilia agreed was utterly adorable. “I am a feared conqueror of worlds! I’ve led bloodcrazed armies and left no survivors in our wake! The earth trembles beneath my itty-bitty feet, so put me down!”

“His armies are stuffed animals,” said Luz in a cutesy voice.

“Yes, stuffed with the organs of our slaughtered enemies! Shall I unleash General Snuggles the Vengeful upon you all!?”

Uneasy on her feet, Camilia weakly said, “I-I need to sit down…”

* * *

While Camilia rested on the shack porch, Luz tried her best to explain everything that happened in the past four months. A lot of it went over Camilia’s head, but with King’s help, Luz told her about the magical world of the Boiling Isles. She shared pictures and videos of nature scenes and the fantastic and often bizarre creatures of this world. She explained how she followed a magical owl here after it stole her book, how she met a witch, and convinced her to teach her magic.

“You're gonna love this,” said Luz, rising to her feet. She shooed King away, then with all the pizzazz she could muster, Luz gestured dramatically to a figure just outside Camilia’s field of vision. “Presenting, the one, the only, Eda the Owl Lady!”

Luz tossed two handfuls of confetti in the air and sidestepped as Eda walked into view. The gray-haired witch gave a quick wave and a half-hearted shrug.

“Heya,” said Eda. She spoke through the forced grin of someone caught running over a beloved pet with their car. “Sooo, I’m the gal responsible for accidentally kidnapping your child. Keep that in mind, _accidentally_. It's nice to finally meet the great Camilia Luz is always talking about.”

Camilia felt more than a little tense in the presence of this woman. While she knew that Luz approached Eda to teach her, Camilia couldn’t help but blame Luz’s disappearance on this gray-haired woman. Her temper flared and her fists tightened, but Camilia stifled it upon noticing Luz’s excited face.

A deep sigh escaped from Camilia’s chest. This was her daughter’s mentor, her personal hero who opened her home to her daughter for these past four months. Clearly Luz held no grudge against Eda, and for now, Camilia could do the same. She could be polite this once for Luz’s sake.

“Sooo....” A forced grin crossed Camilia’s face as well. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife, but as usual, Luz couldn’t read the room. She simply beamed that her two idols were talking. “You're the one whose been teaching my Luz the dark arts?”

“Well, actually, she's probably spent more time teaching me,” said Eda, ruffling Luz's hair playfully. “I used to be quite the powerhouse, but after a scuffle with the Emperor, I lost my ability to do magic the normal way.”

She made a little circle with a finger. For a moment, a yellow ring of gleaming light appeared, only to sputter out. Eda gave a shrug.

“Now I'm relying on the human way, which Luz figured out by herself. She's been teaching me and my sister, Lilith, who's stuck in the same boat.”

The gray-haired witch looked a bit sheepish as she added, “Besides, I wasn't that great a teacher, so I signed Luz up for classes at the local school. She'll tell you all about it. The less time I spend reminiscing about that prison, the better.”

Eda shivered at the dreaded thought of Hexside before she gave the floor back to Luz, who eagerly regaled her mother about her new school. As Luz explained how she pretended to be a purple goop monster called an ‘Abomination,’ Camilia saw Eda duck out of the room, clearly desperate to avoid any more awkward conversation.

“ _Much as I hate it, the two of us have much more to discuss_ ,” Camilia thought, even as Luz rambled on about this pretty witch-girl named Amity, and how they started out as rivals, but became the best of friends who danced at Grom together.

In fact, Luz showed her mother ‘Grom photos’ and explained it was like human Prom while skirting around the exact differences. If Camilia knew how often Luz fought monsters like Grometheus the Fear-Bringer, she’d faint from shock. King piped up from time to time, explaining the finer details when Luz came up short, and all the while he sung his own praises.

“And that’s how I alone defeated the hideous, pimple-faced teenagers of Hexside in a glorious Grudgby match that will be hailed as a triumph of brains and brawn throughout the ages!” said King with a cackle. Luz rolled her eyes as a playful smile crossed her lips.

“Is that right? Well, I attended that match too, and I certainly didn’t see you play! You know what happens to demons who tell lies, King.” Luz loomed over the demon, her arms raised high. The King of Demons fell on his back and scooted away with desperation in his eyes.

“No, no wait!”

“They get tickled!”

Luz pounced on King and started tickling the demon’s furry belly. King laughed as he wiggled on the floor, flailing his little arms around helplessly.

“No, ahahaha, stop this! This is, ahahaha, no way to treat your, ahahaha, master! This is cruel and unusual torture!”

Watching her daughter play with this demon, a smile crossed Camilia’s face. If everything Luz told her was true, it seemed as though her daughter had found a place to truly be herself. Luz certainly seemed happier here than she ever did back home.

After the short tickle fight with King, who was left panting on the floor, Luz talked about another woman named Lilith, who also lived in the Owl House.

“She's probably avoiding us right now,” Luz admitted. “She did a ton of bad stuff that led to the door being blown up. Well, I’m the one who made the final decision, but she deserves some of the blame.”

By the time Luz finished telling her mother everything, the sun was setting over the horizon. Eda was clearly avoiding Camilia now, and only reappeared once to pull King away. The demon kicked and complained that his new follower hadn’t sworn eternal allegiance to him yet, but Eda insisted he take his afternoon nap, otherwise he'd be cranky for the rest of the evening.

Really though, Luz knew Eda wanted to give her and her mother some space.

A heavy silence fell between Luz and her mother as she finished her tale. Camilia didn't know what to say. It was a lot to take in, but there was no doubt in her heart that everything Luz told her was true. Everything, except for one important detail.

“Luz, it sounds like you've had an amazing time here. You’ve made friends, learned new things, seen fantastic places. I'm so very proud of you, _Mija_ , but… why did you feel the need to hide this from me?”

Luz squirmed guiltily, not looking her mother in the eye. “What do you mean? I-I'm fine, everything over here is great!”

“I know my own daughter, Luz. If I know one thing, it's that you're a terrible liar, so what was so important that you hid it from me for months? Please tell me what's bothering you.”

The silence between them returned, lingering longer than either found comfortable. When Luz at last spoke, her voice and mood was far more somber.

“I'm sorry, Mom.” Luz rubbed her arm back and forth, her eyes to the floor. “I should have been honest with you. I lied and told myself I'd tell you one day, but then Emperor Belos took the door and I blew it up and I thought I’d never see that day. That I'd never see you again, and you'd think I was gone forever, never knowing what happened.”

Luz sniffled and hugged herself for comfort. She looked painfully small now.

“I'm also sorry I was such a screw up. If I had just gone to that camp, none of this wouldn't be happening right now. I do love it here, it feels so much like home, but if I went to that camp, or if I wasn't so stuck in my own head so much, then Eda and Lilith would still have their powers, the door wouldn't be broken, and I wouldn't make you so worried about me. I really messed up, and Eda doesn't know how long the door will keep working either.”

Camilia went a little pale as Luz continued. Deep in her heart, the mother ached.

“It might stop working at any time. Today, tomorrow, next week.” Luz bit her lip, “This might be the last time I ever see you. We might not even be able to call or text, and that really scares me.”

Luz trembled like a leaf blowing in the wind. If things got much worse, would she be blown away, torn out of Camilia’s life forever?

“But maybe, maybe it's better this way? I was always such a burden. You always fixed my mistakes, all of my goof ups. B-but you won't need to worry about that anymore! Your life... would be better without me.” Luz fruitlessly wiped away the tears that trickled from her eyes. “I fit in a lot better here. I know that, but...I don't want to grow up without my _mami_. I'm gonna miss you so much, I don't know what to do. I–”

Before Luz could get out another word, a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her and held her fast. Luz choked as she realized who they belonged to.

“M-Mom?”

“You were _never_ a burden to me, Luz. Not for one single moment. You’re the light of my life, _mía_. Why do you think I named you ‘Luz’ anyways?” Camilia sniffled as her eyes grew wet too. “I should never have tried to send you to that camp. I knew you wouldn't like it, but I thought it was for your own good.”

Camilia cradled her sweet child dearly, intent to never let her go again.

“But I put too much pressure on you. I made you feel like you weren’t good enough, that you had to live up to the whole world’s expectations. No wonder you ran away to another world, it's the only place you felt accepted.”

“M-Mom? What did you do? You crossed the door, you can't go back home now!” Luz said, writhing around in her mother's tight embrace.

“Of course not. I made up my mind before you were halfway through your story. I know you didn't want me to worry, _mia_ , but did you listen to half the things you said? This place is _loco_ dangerous!” Camilia tightened her hold, squeezing her daughter as she weakly chuckled at all the demons and dangerous monsters outside the Owl House. “If you’re gonna live here, you’re gonna need your mother. I won’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”

“B-but…”

“No buts either.”

Camilia let out a deep sigh.

“Oh, _mia._ I spent so long thinking you were hurt or dead or worse! My life was miserable without you. To have to go back to Earth without you?” Camilia finally let go of Luz and marched over to the portal door. She gave Earth a long, hard look. “That is not a life worth living.”

With all her force, Camilia slammed the portal door shut. No sooner had the door when it began to shake and rattle. Almost comically, it crumbled into a pile of wood chips and sawdust on the Owl House floor. Camilia took a step back as a spark of yellow magic shot off the pile.

“... Uh oh. That witch lady isn't going to be mad, is she?”

As if she was summoned, Eda raced into the room, staff in hand.

“What's going on here? I'm warning you, just because I can't do magic with this thing doesn't mean I can't whack– oh.”

Eda lowered the staff and approached the pile of debris that was once her portal door. She judged the pile with a toe and winced as another spark spat out.

“Well. That happened.” Eda gave a wistful frown to the junk pile. So much for her business in selling rare human artifacts. “I'll... get a broom or something for this.”

She turned and almost bumped straight into Camilia. The gray-hair witched flinched, as if noticing her for the first time. Her expression of shock immediately melted into one of annoyance and a twinge of regret.

“Oh. Great. Another freeloader, just what this place needed.” Eda sighed and walked past Camilia, clearly avoiding eye contact. “If you'll excuse me, I've got a room to set up since I’ve apparently been upgraded from most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles to the most powerful innkeeper.”

Eda flashed Luz a smile and a wink, and excused herself once more. “I'll be in the kitchen if you two need anything, we'll need to set another plate out for dinner as well. Try not to wake King up, will you? It took forever to get him down for his nap.”

“Is she always like that?” Camilia asked Luz in a low voice.

“She kinda just goes with the flow, yeah. Did you really mean what you said? About deciding to stay over here before I was even done telling you everything?”

“Well, yes. But I had meant to take it a little more slowly. I didn't even have time to pack a change of clothes.” She gestured to her outfit, which after roaming through the woods, and sitting on a dirty wooden patio for the past few hours had seen better days. “But I wasn't going to take the chance of not being able to go through at a later time. And I'm glad I did, if I had waited even another day I wouldn't have been able to come at all!”

The two embraced again, Luz taking her mothers hand and moving them over to the couch. “Oh! I since you're here, I can introduce you to my friends, and I can show you around my school! You're going to love it here, I just know it! And I'll make sure you know which areas with man-eating monsters are so you can avoid them, and-” she stopped her motormouth and beamed up at her mother,

“And I love you mom. I'm glad you're here with me.”

“I love you too, Luz.” Camilia kissed the top of her daughters head lovingly, and ran a hand through her hair. “Now, tell me again about these man-eating monsters?”

**Author's Note:**

> I did kinda ignore a few plot details from the show, like glossing over that the letters Camilia received from "Luz" are fake. And the masked guy Belos sends to keep an eye on The Owl House. I chose to ignore those for now because we lack so much information on them, that I can't think of anything to do with them, and they'd both probably end up being contradicted in the next season anyway.
> 
> I am thinking of turning this into a series. I want to write more of Camilia in the Boiling Isles. I already have a few ideas and even a first draft for another, shorter story taking place right after this one, but we'll just have to see if I ever post it. If I do turn this into a series of fics, I might have a chance to put the missing plot points in and actually do something with them when season 2 releases.


End file.
